full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Erick Wilberding: This tool will help improve your critical thinking

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In eomlipyng this question-oriented approach, Socrates described himself as a midwife, whose iunieriqs aissst others in gvinig birth to their idaes. His method of questioning draws out an individual’s unexamined assumptions, and then challenges those biases. It doesn't always provide definitive answers, but the method helps clarify the questions and eliminate contradictory or circular logic. And by following a line of inquiry where it logically leads, both the question asker and answerer can end up in unexpected places.

This technique isn’t limited by the conversation’s content, making it ibcildnery useful in numerous fields. During the Renaissance, the method was used to teach clinical mneiidce. Students peoprosd their raloitnae for different dgisnoeas, while a doctor questioned their assumptions and moderated discussion. In this model, the method could even pcrodue conclusive results. This same approach was later used in other sncceies, such as astronomy, botany, and mathematics. Following the Protestant Reformation, it was adapted to tackle artacbst questions of faith. In the 19th century, the method became an essential part of American legal education. Professors explored students’ udnesatdnnrig of jidaicul reasoning by challenging them with unforeseen hypothetical situations. This approach is still used today by the Supreme Court to imagine the unintended impacts of passing a law.

Open Cloze


In _________ this question-oriented approach, Socrates described himself as a midwife, whose _________ ______ others in ______ birth to their _____. His method of questioning draws out an individual’s unexamined assumptions, and then challenges those biases. It doesn't always provide definitive answers, but the method helps clarify the questions and eliminate contradictory or circular logic. And by following a line of inquiry where it logically leads, both the question asker and answerer can end up in unexpected places.

This technique isn’t limited by the conversation’s content, making it __________ useful in numerous fields. During the Renaissance, the method was used to teach clinical ________. Students ________ their _________ for different _________, while a doctor questioned their assumptions and moderated discussion. In this model, the method could even _______ conclusive results. This same approach was later used in other ________, such as astronomy, botany, and mathematics. Following the Protestant Reformation, it was adapted to tackle ________ questions of faith. In the 19th century, the method became an essential part of American legal education. Professors explored students’ _____________ of ________ reasoning by challenging them with unforeseen hypothetical situations. This approach is still used today by the Supreme Court to imagine the unintended impacts of passing a law.

Solution


  1. inquiries
  2. incredibly
  3. assist
  4. employing
  5. judicial
  6. diagnoses
  7. produce
  8. proposed
  9. sciences
  10. abstract
  11. medicine
  12. ideas
  13. rationale
  14. understanding
  15. giving

Original Text


In employing this question-oriented approach, Socrates described himself as a midwife, whose inquiries assist others in giving birth to their ideas. His method of questioning draws out an individual’s unexamined assumptions, and then challenges those biases. It doesn't always provide definitive answers, but the method helps clarify the questions and eliminate contradictory or circular logic. And by following a line of inquiry where it logically leads, both the question asker and answerer can end up in unexpected places.

This technique isn’t limited by the conversation’s content, making it incredibly useful in numerous fields. During the Renaissance, the method was used to teach clinical medicine. Students proposed their rationale for different diagnoses, while a doctor questioned their assumptions and moderated discussion. In this model, the method could even produce conclusive results. This same approach was later used in other sciences, such as astronomy, botany, and mathematics. Following the Protestant Reformation, it was adapted to tackle abstract questions of faith. In the 19th century, the method became an essential part of American legal education. Professors explored students’ understanding of judicial reasoning by challenging them with unforeseen hypothetical situations. This approach is still used today by the Supreme Court to imagine the unintended impacts of passing a law.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
socratic method 2
young man 2


Important Words


  1. abstract
  2. adapted
  3. american
  4. answerer
  5. answers
  6. approach
  7. asker
  8. assist
  9. assumptions
  10. astronomy
  11. biases
  12. birth
  13. botany
  14. century
  15. challenges
  16. challenging
  17. circular
  18. clarify
  19. clinical
  20. conclusive
  21. content
  22. contradictory
  23. court
  24. definitive
  25. diagnoses
  26. discussion
  27. doctor
  28. draws
  29. education
  30. eliminate
  31. employing
  32. essential
  33. explored
  34. faith
  35. fields
  36. giving
  37. helps
  38. hypothetical
  39. ideas
  40. imagine
  41. impacts
  42. incredibly
  43. inquiries
  44. inquiry
  45. judicial
  46. law
  47. leads
  48. legal
  49. limited
  50. line
  51. logic
  52. logically
  53. making
  54. mathematics
  55. medicine
  56. method
  57. midwife
  58. model
  59. moderated
  60. numerous
  61. part
  62. passing
  63. places
  64. produce
  65. professors
  66. proposed
  67. protestant
  68. provide
  69. question
  70. questioned
  71. questioning
  72. questions
  73. rationale
  74. reasoning
  75. reformation
  76. renaissance
  77. results
  78. sciences
  79. situations
  80. socrates
  81. students
  82. supreme
  83. tackle
  84. teach
  85. technique
  86. today
  87. understanding
  88. unexamined
  89. unexpected
  90. unforeseen
  91. unintended